Are they alive or not? For a little over three years, the Indian government has held out hope for the anxious relatives of 39 Indian men abducted by the Daesh or Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in in strife-torn Mosul, Iraq, by repeatedly assuring them that the men are safe.
Developments in recent days, however, reveal the government’s utter cluelessness and its obfuscation about the fate of the captives despite its claims, made from time to time, that they were safe and diplomatic and back channels were being worked to rescue them.
Missing Workers in Badush Prison
Take the government’s most recent claim, made by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during a meeting with the families of the missing men who disappeared in mid-June 2014, soon after Mosul was overrun by the Islamic State.
During the meeting held on 16 July – latest among the many Swaraj has held – the families were told that her junior minister in the MEA, General VK Singh (retd) had learnt from “sources” that the 39 Indians, all construction workers from Punjab, might be in a prison in Badush which lies north-west of Mosul.
His ‘mission’ to ‘trace’ the missing Indians came about after Mosul was liberated from the control of the Islamic State, which had seized the city in June 2014 with its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declaring an Islamic Caliphate from a mosque there.
‘No Absolute Proof’
But the MEA’s claims were hollow. Last week, an Indian TV news channel reporter reached Badush and Mosul to send home footage showing the prison had been reduced to rubble several months ago, leaving many red faces in the government.
If the prison no longer exists, where are the abducted men? There’s been no official word from the government about the 39 Indians since this revelation.
Instead, all that has been heard so far is from the Iraq government. Its foreign minister Ibrahim Al-Eshaiker Al-Jafari, in a rather unusual step, chose to interact with the media here on Day 1 of his five-day visit rather than upon the culmination.
Mr Al-Jafari who on 24 June had stated, “We’re not sure 100 percent whether they (the abducted men) are alive or not”, by the night had switched to saying, “We consider all of them to be alive.” As senior MEA officials looked on, he also said: “There is no absolute proof that the 39 Indians were in Badush so they are still being considered alive.”
The Iraqi minister’s statement about there being no “absolute proof” of the missing men being in Badush, however, punched gaping holes in the Indian government’s most recent claims stating that they were there.
Also Read: Search Operations on to Find 39 Missing Indians: Iraq Embassy
Families in Despair
So was General Singh informed that the 39 missing Indians were not in Badush during his recent visit to Iraq?
Mr Al-Jafari’s response: “ Truth is, this information was not released as he was making his efforts…” and a little later on in the press interaction he equivocated saying, “it may or may not have been presented as a fact by the Iraqi government.”
With no clear answers forthcoming from either the Indian or the Iraqi governments on the fate of the disappeared men for three years now, their families are in despair. They had clung on to hope as New Delhi repeatedly assured them that they were safe and all efforts were being made to rescue them.
These ranged from seeking the help of the Iraqi Red Crescent to local tribal leaders, the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) as well as other humanitarian agencies working in Iraq soon after the abduction.
In the weeks following the abduction, the government also dispatched former ambassador to Iraq, Suresh Reddy, to the strife-torn country to work his contacts there for information on the 39 men. The government also said it was in touch with countries in the region to help rescue the abducted workers.
Also Watch: Sushma Swaraj Meets Families of Indians Missing in Iraq Since 2014
Is Govt Unwilling to Admit its Failure?
As India floundered in its ‘search’ for the missing workers, one Harjit Masih stuck to his claims that all 39 had been killed soon after being taken hostage by the Islamic State. He claimed he was among the 40 initially taken captive by the jihadist group, but had managed to escape.
But the government, perhaps unwilling to admit its failure in rescuing the workers or even finding out what happened to them, was content declaring ever so often that since there is no proof that they’re dead, it’s working on the assumption that they’re alive.
For sure, Swaraj has come to the rescue of many Indians in trouble abroad, very often using her Twitter handle to good effect for this purpose. Sure, there are dozens of success stories – from bringing back abducted Indian aid-worker Judith D’ Souza from Afghanistan or ‘Bharat ki beti’ Geeta from Pakistan to rescuing stranded Indian sailors and allowing Pakistani patients in urgent need of medical care to travel to India.
But the families of the 39 men who disappeared three years ago still await clarity on the fate that befell their loved ones.
(The writer is a senior Delhi-based journalist. She can be reached @ParulChandraP. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)